Slider for a sliding clasp fastener



June 1953 J. BACKER ET AL SLIDER FOR A SLIDING CLASP FASTENER 5 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed Nov. 15, 1955 Inventor M m, Backer n4 yfinil Irv pl By K FM Attorney June 24, 1958 J. BACKER ETAL 2,839,807

SLIDER FOR A SLIDING CLASP FASTENER Filed Nov. 15, 1955 V v 5 Sheets-Sheet 2 Inventor jun/1M backer Q I Dv'l'd Kvflg! W RPM Attorney J. BACKER EI'AL SLIDER FOR A SLIDING CLASP FASTENER June 24, 1958 3 Sheets-Sheet 5 Filed Nov. 15, 1955 Inventor 3'4 d' bnkw and Honvf Devin By h {4. PM

Attorney United States PatentO f SLIDER FOR A SLIDING CLASP FASTENER Joachim Backer, Whitchurch, Cardiff, and Henry D. Koppel, Rhiwbina, Cardiff, Wales, assignors to AeroZipp Fasteners Limited, London, England, a company of Great Britain Application'November 15, 1955, Serial No. 547,006

Claims priority, application Great Britain September 5, 1955 6 Claims. (Cl. 24-20515) -T-he present invention relates to a slider for a sliding through the slider, the said shields being so arranged as to allow spreading apart of the two shields to enable at least one of the stringers to be removed from the slider,

for example for overcoming jamming when-the slider may: have jammed on the stringers;

Itis an object of the invention to provide such a slider,- which is easy to manufacture and operate. I

It is another object of the invention to provide such a slider which in normal use is securely locked against unintentional spreading, but which can easilydbe spread whendesired. i i

It is a further object of the invention to provide such a slider whichcan be spread by simply pressing a pull member as ordinarily provided against the slider, body.

- It is still another object to provide such a slider, wherein the locking and spreading mechanism is concealed to a great extent. 1

These and other objects and advantages of the inven-.

tion will become apparent to those'skilled in the art from are givenby way of example and in.

Patented June 24, 1958 The riser element 5 has a pivot hole 8 and a bore 24 at right-angles thereto, both parallel to the base of the shield 1, and the bore 24 extending in the longitudinal direction of the shield 1. The bore 24 is blind at one end adjacent the wedge-shaped portion 6 and open at its other end adjacent the tail portion 10 of the riser element 5.

- The side walls 3 and 33 of the shield I extend from the narrow end of the shield to about half way along the shield. The riser element 5 is unitary with the base and extends generally in the longitudinal direction of the base from the wide end of the shield 1, towards about the centre thereof. The retaining plate 7 is parallel to the base and spaced therefrom substantially by the width of the interlocking mem'bers 21(that is to say, the dimension of the said members perpendicular to the plane of-the tapes 29, 30), the retaining plate 7 extending laterally from and beyond the wedge-shaped portion 6 of the riser element 5.

The slider .shield 2 has a narrow end and a wide end, and is provided with a longitudinal substantially central aperture 12 bordered towards the narrow end by an edge 23. An additional aperture 16 is formed by an extension of one corner of aperture 12 towards one side and towards the narrow end of the shield 2. .At its wide end, the shield 2 is provided, adjacent the aperture 12,

with a spring abutment face 13, with a surface 14 inclined tothegeneral plane of the shield 2 and directed away The side of the shield 2 which faces the shield 1 has a re- Fig. 1 is a p-erspective vie'w'of a portion of a sliding clasp fastener comprising a slider of the invention;

1 Fig. 2' is a view similar to Fig. l, but showing the slider shields spread apart, and one of the. fastener stringers retained by the -slider while the other stringer is removed from the slider;

Fig. 3 is an exploded perspective view of Fig. 4 is a side view of'the assembled slider, partly'in section, and to a larger 'scale than Figs. 1 to 3, showing the slider in its closed'position; f I 1 -Fig. 5 is aside view similar to t-hatof Fig.4, and to the same scale, but with the slider shields spread apart;

Pig. 6 is a sectional'inverted view along the line VI-Vl: ofFig. 4;and

'Fig. 7 is a sectional view Fig. 4.'-

The sliding clasp fastener shown in Figs. prises two stringers generally indicated by reference numerals 22 and 28. The stringers 22 and 28 respectively comprise c-arrier' tapes 29 and 30, provided with interlocking members 21., The fastener is opened and closed in known manner by a slider generally in'dicate'd platf0mi35,and a retaining plate 7. 5

. the slider;

along the line VII-VII' of 1 and 2 corn- 3 to 7) comprises two opposed slider shields 1 and 2, a pull member 17 for cess'27 for receiving the retaining plate 7. Side walls 4 and34 of the shield 2 extend from the narrow end of the shield 2 to about half way, along the shield.

; The pull member 17 .has pivot pins 19, an abutment portion 18, and a locking projection 20.

The spring 11 is a helical compression spring.

for assembling the slider, the spring 11 is introduced into the 'bore 24 so that the greater part of the spring 11 is housedin the said bore 24. The shield 2 is placed over, the. riser element f the shield 1 so that the spring llvicontacts the spring abutment face 13 of the shield.

2, The. spring 11. is now compressed by moving the shield], relatively to the shield 1 until the edge 23 of the shield 2 ,passestheove'rhangingportion9 of the riser element 5. The shield 2 is then released and-the spring,

1 1 displaces the shield-2relatively tov theshield 1 until the edge23 lies fbelowjthe overhanging portion 9. .Thepivot, pins 19 of the pull member 17 are engaged. in the pivot hole}; of the riser element 5 and the arms .of'the' pull member .which bear the pivot pins 19 are compressed I together so as to be eventually parallel. Thereby the pull member 17 is securedto theriser element 5. The action of the spring llffon the spring abu'tment'face 13, of the shield Z'causes' the shield 2 tojbe' held, with its edge v23, whichborders the aperture 12, enga'ged'with anadjacent' surface of the overhanging portion 9 of the'ris'er element 5 and -the, shield I; the retaining plate 7 i of the riser ele- Y ment'S beingengagedfintherecessi27, and the fulcrum portion'2'5 of the shield) resting on platform 35, .while *the' surfalce 1ies 'close;toj'an adjacent surface .of'the tail end ld ofathe riser element: 5. The assembled slider in its normal operating position is shown iriFigs. 1 and 4.

-The shield 2 isdisplaceable relatively to. the other, shield l andthe; riser element 5" against' the action 613; the spring 11, this displacement being possible without" the shield 2 being moved out of its'positionjof parallel relationship with the shield 1. on reachinggdu'ring such displacemenh ai pos on in yvhieh' the overhanging por- 5 i ate en al a v t e a ment; the edge23 of the shield 2, whicnborders' 'the apeitlire p 12, justclearing the overhanging portion 9 of the riser element 5, the shield 2 is no longer constrained to remain parallel to the shield 1, and can be spread apart from the shield 1 by turning'the shield2relatively to the shield 1 about the fulcrum portion 25, which 'although displaced in the longitudinal direction. of 'the slider, continues to rest'on the platform 35. When the slider is in its operative position shown in Figs. 1 and 4 audit is intended to spread the shields 1 and 2-apart, for example when the slider has jammd on the stringers, due, for instance, to the presence of foreign matter in the slider, the pull member 17 is turned in an anti-clockwise direction (when viewed as shown in Fig. 4)' relatively to the riser element 5 until the abutment portion 18 of the pull member 17 contacts the inclined surface 14 of the shield 2. Further turning of the pull member 17 in the same direction causes the abutment portion 18 to press .with a camming action against the inclined surface 14 of the shield 2, thereby causing the shield 2, which is constrained by the overhanging portion 9 of the riser element 5 to remain parallel to the shield 1, to be displaced in its longitudinal direction relatively to the riser element 5 until the edge 23 of the shield 2, which borders the aperture 12, has cleared the overhanging portion 9 of the riser element 5, so that the shield 2 is no longer constrained by the overhanging portion 9 of the riser element 5 in its position parallel to the shield 1. Still further turning of the pull member 17 causes pressure to be applied by the pull member 17 to the inclined surface 14 of the shield 2. Since the shield 2 is no longer constrained by the overhanging portion 9 of the riser element 5 the shield 2 is caused to pivot about the fulcrum portion 25, which rests on the platform 35, so that the narrow end of the shield 2 recedes from the narrow end of the shield 1, the spreading being permitted by a clearance between the bevelled face 26 of the shield 2 and the platform 35 of the riser element 5. The amount of spreading is limited by the outer face of the shield 2 abutting against the pull member 17. The position of the slider when its shields 1 and 2 are fully spread is shown in Figs. 2 and 5.

When it is subsequently intended to close the slider, it is only necessary to press the narrow ends of the shields 1 and 2 together into their parallel positions, whereupon the shield 2 is automatically displaced longitudinally into its original position with a snap action due to the action of the spring 11 so that the overhanging portion 9' of the riser element 5 re-engages the edge 23' to remain parallel the stringers 22 and 28. To release the slidertfor clo sing and opening the fastener, the pull member 17 is.

turned anti-clockwise out of its position shown in Fig. 1

whereby the locking projection 20 is lifted out of engagement between adjacent interlocking members 21.

When the shields 1 and 2 are in the position shown in Fig. 5, the retaining plate, 7 prevents the stringer 22 (see Figs. 1 and 2) from being removed from the slider. This prevention is achieved by arranging the retaining plate 7 so that it extends towards the narrow end of the shield 1 past'the diverging end of the sidewall 33 of the slider shield 1. slidably move' in the channel formed by the shield 1, side wall 33, and the retainingplate7, but cannot be separated from thetslider.

Modifications of the; embodiment'described are pos- In this way, the stringer 22 canj sible. For example, the pull member may be dispensed;

with, in which case, opening is effected by displacing the shield I manually. Again, the arrangement may be such that on spreading. the slider, the abutment portien 18 described is given by way of example only.

oftthe pull member abuts against the surface 15 of the slider shield 2 instead of against the surface 14.

It should be clearly understood that the embodiment Various modifications, additions and omissions are possible without departing from the spirit of the invention,

We claim:

'1.:A slider for a sliding clasp fastener, comprising two "opposed slider shields for guiding two fastener stringersfthrough the slider, a riser element provided in fixed position on one of said slider shields and extending through. an aperturein the other slider shield, a support on said riser element, the said support carrying said other slider shield displaceably in substantially parallel relationship to said one slider shield, a portion on said riser element, the said portion normally overhanging an edge of said other slider shield bordering the said aperture, an abutment on said 'other slider shield, spring means acting between the saidabutmen't and' the said' riser element, the said spring means urging the said edge into a position underneath the said overhanging portion, and fulcrum means on the said other shield,

'the'said other shield together with its'fulcrum means beingdisplaceable'alongthe said supportwithout' substantial change of its generalplane against the action of the said spring means to such an extent that the said edge clears the said overhanging portion of the riser element, the arrangement being such the spreading of the slider shields relatively to each other is effected by first displacing the said other shield along said support to clear the said overhanging portion so that the said other .shield is no longerconstrained to remain in the same and having an abutment surface arranged for co-opera-- tion with a surface of said-abutmentof said other shield,

the arrangement being such that, on pressing the said surfaces together by turning the pull member, a camming.

effect is obtained between the said pull member and the said abutment, whereby the said other shield is first displaced, to clear the said overhanging portion and is subsequently, on, further pressing, turned relatively to the said on'eshield. V

3. A slider as claimed in claim 2, wherein the said surface of the said abutment is.inclined to the general plane of the said other shield. t

4. slider as claimed in claim 1,.wherein the said fulcrum means comprise a fulcrum abutment bearing against and slidable on the said support.

5, A slider as claimed in claim I, wherein the spring means are in the form'of a compression spring at least the greater part of which is contained within a bore in the riser element the said bore having an open end remote from the said overhanging portion of the riser element, and a closed end nearer to the said overhanging portion.

6. A slider as claimed in claim 5, and comprising a retaining plate. provided on the support substantially parallel to the said one shield and arranged at one side .References Cited in the file of this patent I j' 'UNITED STATES PATENTS 586,5348 Schuchardt Aug 24,1954- Deshaw -11. -Oct.25, 1955" 1 

